Tag

#nolensvillepike

If you follow the art on Hispanic businesses, the art on Caniceria y Taqueria Don Juán fits the general model well. We see a street scene of Old Mexico, along with a brightly painted menu. It’s a little unusual for the menu to be up against a fake wall with trompe l’oeil elements, but what really makes this stand out is the signature. Underneath the flowers on the white house (see slideshow below), instead of a signature, it says “artist contact,” followed by a phone number. Well, I dug through my archives, and the phone number corresponds to RubenTorres. I have no idea why he did not sign this piece directly. There is also a painted menu and some other work on the other side of the building. See the slideshow below.

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Located at 2910 Nolensville Pike. The main mural is on the south side of the building. There is some parking at Don Juán, as well a street parking on Collier Avenue.

The new dawn – that’s what El Nuevo Amanecer means. An interesting name for a bar, particularly since it’s not clear it’s even a going concern. Their Facebook page shows that they had a couple of shows last year, but nothing since September. The only review is from someone complaining about the noise. And this site that keeps track of business licenses lists Nuevo Amanecer as “Inactive Dissolved.” The artist is also mysterious. While I would guess whoever did this is likely one of the artists who specialize in decorating Latino businesses, those artists not only usually sign their work but add their phone number as well, in case you want to hire them. There’s nothing on this one. Given this is just a few blocks from the future soccer stadium, I imagine some developer will snatch it up soon enough. Get your selfies soon.

Located at 398 Rosedale Avenue. This is at the corner of Nolensville Road, along the 2200 block behind Restaurante El Paraiso. There is plenty of parking.

In the battle of the selfies (see my previous post), an up-and-comer is the “nashville looks good on you.TN” mural found behind Frothy Monkey’s 12 South outpost. There’s also one on the Anderson Group Real Estate building on 21st South. This one, on the side of the BW Gallery, seems to be the newest one. The artist, who bills himself online as NASH.TN, posted on his Instagram account last October 28 that he had just started working on this one, so it’s just a few months old. This is also much larger than the others, which allowed the artist to suggest the shape of the state of Tennesee, and to fade out the mural into a barely visible graffiti tag. And while this version is seen by thousands of Nashville commuters every day, I doubt you’ll find much of a line here for your portrait. Perusing the #nashvillelooksgoodonyou tag on Instagram, I found only one portrait with the Nolensville Pike edition.

Located at 1911 Nolensville Pike, just south of the Fairgrounds entrance. The mural is on the south side of the building. This is a very easy place to park – at least until developers get ahold of it!

Welcome to Old Nashville. That’s an interesting greeting for Tin Dog Tavern to make. On the one hand, it’s relatively new, having opened in 2014. But it’s also true that there’s been a dive bar on this corner of 4th Avenue South for a while. Before it was Tin Dog, it was Purple Heys, and before that, it was TC’s Triangle (the building is triangle shaped). Tin Dog sits in an interesting place. It lies on the border between Wedgewood-Houston and Chestnut Hill, two rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods that still have significant chunks of their older versions. Warehouses, factories, auto repair places and low-income housing sit side-by-side with art galleries and some of the newest high-end housing in town. Just south, the Fairgrounds are poised to become home to Nashville’s major league soccer stadium. Compared to all that, Tin Dog is very much Old Nashville. It’s anyone’s guess how long it, or some succeeding dive bar, will stick it out. The sign is an Eastside Murals creation. On the other side of the building is a graffiti installation that bears tags from the UH crew. (See below).

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Located at 1401 4th Avenue South, at the corner with Rains Avenue. The Welcome to Nashville mural faces Rains Ave. The graffiti mural is on the south side of the building, facing an alleyway. Tin Dog has parking, much of it right in front of the mural. If you want to find the mural car-free, try early in the morning.

There’s mixed media, and then there’s mixed media. The sculpture of a stack of books at the Downtown Library featured in Heavy reading is made from stones from five continents. “Camino y Raíces/Roots & Routes” in Azafrán Park contains coins from no less than 77 countries. Azafrán Park, which opened in August, is the result of a partnership between Conexión Américas and Metro Parks and Recreation, among others. It sits on the north side of Casa Azafrán, where the Park building featured in Color me gone – soon once stood. It serves to provide a community space, particularly for children, in a section of town that has little open green space. This piece was produced by Jairo Prado in collaboration with students from the Opportunity Now program. As explained in this Nashville Arts interview with Prado, the students came from Glencliff, Nashville School for the Arts, Overton, and Hume Fogg. The mural, by its title and its coins from many lands, speaks to the different origins of many Nashvillians, particularly the immigrant community along Nolensville and Murfreesboro Pikes. Prado of course also designed and led the production of the mosaic that adorns the front of Casa Azafrán, Migration. The coins for this mural were collected at Casa Azafrán, in the community and even at the airport! This is a bit of an art hotspot. The mosaic faces the giant photo mural from Oz Arts Inside/Out, Part 1. The mural featured in Hidden away is really hidden now, as there is a concrete wall in front of it, but it can still be glimpsed from the side and through some holes in the wall. And there’s a mural on that concrete wall I’ll feature later, as well as some mobile giant snails from Cracking Art and a colorful block arrangement for kids to play on. All of it will probably be on the blog eventually.

Located at 2187 Nolensville Pike. There is parking in front and behind Casa Azafrán.

For about ten years, La Elegancia has been providing fancy dresses for, as it says, weddings, baptisms, baby showers, presentations, and quinceañeras, the traditional party given for 15-year-old girls in Mexico and many other parts of Latin America. They also have decorations and souvenirs (that’s what “recuerdos” means). And that’s about all I know, as I have never been in and they seem to have no internet presence. That, and of course, that they have a very nice sign. They share the building with two better-known Latino businesses, La Hacienda Taqueria and La Hacienda Market and Bakery. On the La Hacienda side, there is a significant mural facing the parking lot, but I despair of ever finding it without cars parked out front.

Located at 2619 Nolensville Pike. There is parking in front of La Elegancia, and next door in front of La Hacienda, as well as parking behind La Hacienda off Grandview Avenue.

Carniceria Dominguez is a very new Hispanic grocery store on Nolensville, opened by Rose Dominguez, who also owns a similar store of the same name on Murfreesboro Road. The art is pretty new too, so new that it’s not made it to Carniceria Dominguez’s Instagram page yet. (Maybe it will by the time you read this). I’m using as the feature photo a mural from the south side of the store and not the front, mainly because I like it a lot and also because it has a cow in it and the art on the front is mostly vegetables and fruit. The name is “carniceria” after all, that is, “butcher.” The work is by José F. Vargas, who had done art for a lot of Hispanic businesses, such as the work featured in Gotta get that bling! and Mi casa es su casa. If you speak Spanish, this video from Nashville Noticias can fill you in on all the things you can get at Carniceria Dominguez. Very enthusiastically, I might add.

Located at 3709 Nolensville Pike. The grocery has a fair amount of parking. Load up on fresh meat and vegetables and enjoy the art!

There’s been a bit of a theme of lost art recently on this blog, and here is another example, but with a twist. The vibrant piece above is alive and well and advertising Dominican food on Nolensville Road. But what is now La Cocina Dominicana used to be Carribean Express, with a mural I featured in I’m just here for the food. That mural also featured the out of kilter parking sign, but Grenadian symbolism has now been replaced with Dominican imagery. Sadly, I never went to Carribean Express. I don’t intend to make that mistake again. The mural here is the work of Jose F. Vargas, who has worked on other Latino businesses and who I’ve featured before in posts like Gotta get that bling!.

Located at 4407 Nolensville Pike. There is parking in the back. If you are new to Dominican food, try the mofongo. Chow down and enjoy the art!

I have wanted to write about this particular mural for some time. It’s prominently visible if you are driving north on upper Nolensville Pike, it’s a weird mix of cheesy and minimalist, and it seemed to have been around a long while. What’s not to love? Sadly, there always seemed to be at least one car parked in front of it. So when I saw it car-free, I knew I had to get my shot quick. Sadly for this mural, the reason I found it car-free may also spell its doom. The furniture and appliance store whose goods it advertises has moved. Sam’s Mattress Furniture Warehouse doesn’t have much of an internet presence (other than a couple of bad Yelp reviews), but a sign on the door lists three new addresses, two for furniture and mattresses, one for appliances, all closer to downtown on Nolensville. The murals are as I guessed, survivors. All are signed by Mark E. Witte, a name I have not been able to track down. Witte seems to have worked fast giving each of them a separate specific date in April 2009. But they are out of order. Going left to right, they are dated April 26, 27, 28, 25 and 30. So he did the sofas first, then went back to the washing machine and worked his way back down the wall. Started on a Saturday, finished on a Thursday for a productive week. But with Sam’s closed, the fate of this mural seems uncertain.

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Located at 3312 Nolensville Pike. It faces south, towards Chilton Street. It is possible to park across the street on Chilton, and there is of course parking at Sam’s until developers get a hold of it.